The Right Time for an Old Friend
by PrincessRavenclaw239
Summary: It's been a few years since the end of the Second Wizarding War. George is in desperate need of help around the shop, but what will happen when an old, disassociated friend sees the "Help Wanted" add in the Daily Prophet? Please rate & review, this is my first fanfic and I'd really love some feedback!
1. Stephanie

**A/N: Hello, loves! This is my absolute FIRST fan fic, so I'm quite excited! I really hope you like it, dearies!**

Stephanie stared up at the giant, boisterous, brightly colored building that stood before her, and whisteled in amazement. "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes," she whispered to herself. "That's got a nice ring to it."

_They did it,_ she thought silently. _After all those years of listening to their wild plans, they actually pulled this off. _Then she felt a bit sad, remembering they weren't really "they" anymore.

"Don't think about that," she whispered, shaking the thought. And with that, she wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. _Well, _she thought, taking one last glance at the "Help Wanted" sign in the window,_ here goes nothing. _

She then pushed open the door, only to be greeted by a cacophony of laughter, screams, and other joyous noise, as well as a fanged flyer whizzing past, just inches from her nose.

**A/N: So who is this "Stephanie" girl? How did she know the twins in the past? Why does she want to work for George now? You'll have to wait 'till the next chapter to find out! Don't forget to rate and review, I ADORE hearing from you! Bye for now, loves!**


	2. The Meeting

**A/N: I'm back, loves! I promise, this chapter is MUCH longer, that last one was more of a "preview" to spark your interest. ;) Hope you enjoy, dearies!**

"George!" Lee yelled, as he knocked thrice on his office door. "George, there's someone here to see you, it's about the ad in the Prophet."

"Great, send 'em in," he replied, as he quickly tried to gather all the paperwork strewn accross his desk into a semi-organized heap. Just then, the door opened,, and he quickly grabbed the top file from the heap and began pouring over it in attempt to look professional.

"Hello," the girl said a bit timidly, wondering if she should interupt.

"Hmm?" Gorge looked up, pretending to snap out of a deep trance of concentration. "Oh, hello!" he said enthusiastically, setting the file to the side and rising to shake the womans hand. "And what brings you to my office on this fine day? Please, have a seat"

"I saw your 'Help Wanted' ad in the Daily Prophet and I came to apply for the job," she said with a smile as she took a seat in the chair on the opposite side of George's desk. _Surely he's noticed, _she thought.

"Ah," he replied, looking her over. She was tall and thin, and a bit on the pale side with dark carmel-brown hair, and she looked to be about his age. "Wwll, normally, we only hire red heads, since we are a Weasley owned shop and all, but i guess we might be able to make an exception," he said with a laugh.

"Actually," the woman said, "I'm a metamorphmagus, so that could be arranged." With that, she effortlessly turned her dark locks a bright, ginger-orange.

"Impressive!" George laughed. She smiled as she allowed her hair to fade back to its original shade. _Oh, come on, that was an obvious hint!_ she tought.

George looked her over again, this time more closely. She was weareing mostly black, but her shirt was white and had bright lettering that read "Beauty kills infinite possibility." _I like her style!_ George thought with a smirk. She had many earrings (four on the left, three on the right with two in the cartlidge), a spiked, black leather bracelet, and loads of rings on her fingers. _If only she turned her hair pink, I would swear this was Tonks back from the dead!_ He felt a tinge of pain as he thought of those last words. Then, upon looking closer, he realized on of the rings she was wearing was that of a snake, and it twisted in and out of the three innermost fingers on her left hand. _A snake..._ he pondered, but then he told himself to let it go. _Those old predjudices shouldn't matter any more,_ he convinced himself.

"So, how much do you know about the buisness?" he asked her.

"Oh, more than you'd think." she replied with a smirk.

"Oh?" he inquired, eyeing her with a hint of suspicion, hoping this wasn't just another crazy fan girl who just wanted the job because of... well, him.

"No, no, it's not like that." she said, cathing his suspecting face and smiling once again.

"Ok... so, what is it that you know?" He asked, trying to pass over the awkwardness that had just occured.

"Well, for one thing, I know your fireworks are amazing." she said with a mischevious smile. He eyed her even more suspiciously. _She's an odd one,_ he told himself.

"What I mean is that I graduated Hogwarts the year you two flew the coop." she explained. _Maybe now it'll hit him..._

"Oh really?" he smiled, happy that everything had been clarified... but then his smile faltered a bit as he remembered the use of the phrase "you two." He tried to forget that part of the statement as he put on a smile again and proceeded. "I'm not sure I remember you, were you in Gryffindor?"

_Ouch!_ she thought. _Not sure you remember?! _ she tried smile through it, though. "No sir, I'm afraid not. I'm a sepent and proud!" she said, boldly showing him her multi-fingered snake ring.

"Oh..." he said, taken aback a bit by the daring revalation. "That's, um... very good...uh..." He was trying to go about this cautiously, just in case she...

"Oh!" she said, snapping her fingers as she realized just what he was on about. "Don't worry," she assured him, stretching out her left forearm to reveal a blank canvas of pale white skin. "My record's clean," she finished with a wink.

Heart beating normally once again, George laughed nervously, feeling bad about jumping to such harsh conclusions. "Sorry, it's just that..."

"Don't worry about it, I understand," she cut in with a knowing smile. _Why doesn't he recognize me?!_ she couldn't help but wonder.

"I really do apologize though, ma'am, it's just that, these days, you never exactly know if you can trust a snake."

"Hey!" she said, putting her hand to her heart with a look of mock hurt and offense on her face, along with a hint of a smile. "That is a vicious stereotype!"

"Well, I'm sorry, but snakes are very vicious creatures!" he said defensively, with a very serious expression.

At this remark, the woman couldn't help but laugh. As she started laughing, though, George's expression changed, going from seriousness to a look of slight confusion he always had when he was thinking. His lips pursed, his eybrows schrunched together, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and he put a finger to his chin. Eventually the girl's eye fell upon his expression, the one she'd seen before on countless occasions. _Now he's got it, _she thought triumphantly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, feigning sincereity. "Was that not meant to be funny?" she looked at him expectantly.

"No, no, it's fine, it's just..." his confusion faded a bit and he began to smile slightly. "You're laugh, it's... there's something familiar about it..." he continued. The girl smiled and nodded, waiting patiently for him to go on.

"I'm sorry miss, I never got your name... do... do we... know each other, perhaps?" he asked, still looking a bit confused.

"For the love of Merlin, it took you long enough!" she said, a hunge, triumphant smile adorning her face.

"I'm sorry, what?" he said, now even more confused than he had previously been.

"Well, I figured you would recognize your best friend for the better part of seven years by more than just her laugh." she said with a smirk.

"Wait a minute..." His eyes grew wide with shock as the light bulb finally went off.

"Stephanie?"

**A/N: So George and Stephanie were best friends?! What?! Shocking, I know! A Gryffindor befriend a Slytherin? That's against all rules! But then again, the Weasley twins were never ones to abide by the rules ;) Rate and Review, loves!**

**P.S. I'm going to do two flashbacks next, just to clarify how they know eachother and why they hadn't seen eachother in so many years. Should I do them as separate chapters or as one? Let me know what you think, dearies, by leaving your opinion for me! Bye for now, loves! 3**


	3. Flashback

**A/N: Back for more, dearies? I sure hope you like this chapter, I was up all night working on it by the light of my iPod nano (which is like a one inch by one inch square.) Took me a while, but I just had to write it, it had been buzzing in my head all day. Enjoy, loves! **

**Also, I did decide to do the two flashbacks as seperate chapters, so this is the first one. Hope you like it!**

_Flashback, Fifth Year:_

"So I was thinking we could test out the Nosebleed Nougat on some of the first years today," Fred said, as he and George walked up the stairs towards the corridors that led to the Gryffindor common room.

"Ah, brilliant," George replied, marking it down in his notebook. "And don't forget the order of Puking Pastils for that Hufflepuff chappie."

"Ooooh, better give a couple of those to the first years as well, make sure they're not too strong," Fred suggested.

"Poor kids won't know what hit them!" George joked, and the two laughed.

"You've _got _to be kidding me!" a voice sounded from down the corridor.

Fred and George exchanged a puzzled glance and turned to see who had ever so rudely interrupted their planning. They both groaned internally when they saw none other than the frizzy-haired, know-it-all herself, Hermione Granger.

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves!" she exclaimed, strutting towards them, but still making sure to keep a good distance. "Giving innocent children sweets to make them ill? That's completely barbaric!"

"Well, I wouldn't quite call it _barbaric,_ Granger," Greorge said with a smirk.

"Yeah, it's not like it's going to kill them," Fred continued.

"Well, either way, it's bloody ridiculous!" she yelled. "What did they ever do to you two?"

Fred and George exchanged glances, wondering how anyone could be so uptight.

"You may think it ridiculous, but you need to understand, this is a buisness, Hermione!" George reasoned.

"Yes, and it's rather serious, as well. How else are you supposed to avoid..." he paused, as if it pained him to finish.

"Learning?" the twins said in unison.

"Oh no, not education!" George exclaimed.

"George, I think I'm going to be sick!" Fred complained, pretending to faint into his brother's arms.

The curly-haired braniac smiled when they weren't looking, but then became serious again. "Argh! That's it!" she screamed. "I've had enough of you two! I'm going to Professor McGonnagal!"

"NO!" the twins exclaimed, fear in their eyes.

"Hermione, you wouldn't!" George said.

"Yeah, come on Granger, we were only joking!" Fred insisted.

Listening to them beg, the girl couldn't help but begin to laugh.

Immediately , the twins sighed in relier and looked at the girl standing ahead of them, who they now realized was not Hermione.

"Blimey, Stephanie, don't scare us like that!" George exclaimed as he and Fred began to laugh as well.

As the three of them laughed together Stephanie morphed her slightly altered features (such as her nose, ears, etc.) and changed the frizzy, dull brown hair back to her own sleek, caramel locks. In the end, she hadn't really looked that much like the brainy Gryffindor, but Fred and George had been too concerned with protecting their buisiness to notice.

"Yeah, and don't _ever _try to be Hermione again, the whole know-it-all thing just doesn't work for you." Fred added.

"Well I figured you would've recognized your best friend by more than just her laugh. You should've seen the looks on your faces! You were preactically begging me not to tell! Honestly boys, I thought two clever gents like you would be above pleading with such an uptight braniac." Stephanie teased.

"Hey, what has to be done, has to be done!" George said.

"That was awfully brilliant of you, though! Tell me, how'd you get a hold of those Griyffindor robes?" Fred inquired.

"Their yours, mate!" Stephanie answered proudly. "It's the set you gave me to wear to sneak into your common room when working on the buisness plans, because you know what would happen if you tried to get into the Slytherin dorms."

George shuddered at that last comment, but Fred ignored it.

"Bravo!" Fred congratulated her, begining to applaud. "Glad to see their being put to good use," he said as he elbowed her playfully.

"Yeah, convenient you're already wearing them, too," George added, "Because we've got an appointment with some first years who have an appointment with some Nosebleed Nougat." he finished with a wink.

"Great," she said, putting an arm around each of the ginger twins as they began to walk down the corridor toward the portrait of the Fat Lady. "And I'll run that order to the Hufflepuff lad for you when we're done."

"Thanks, Steph," George said.

"You're the best," he and Fred finished in unison.

"And don't you forget it, mates!" Stephanie said.

They laughed together and the twins gave the password. They walked into the common room, their arms around Stephanie's waist, hers still around their shoulders.

They were their own golden trio.

**A/N: Don't you just adore the ending, dearies? It just brings a happy tear to the eye. :') Ok, maybe not quite. ;) Anyway, enjoy the happiness while it lasts, loves, because the next chapter is going to be quite a bit more... dark. I haven't written in yet, so it may be a while before it's up, but I've got an idea for it... Rate and review, dearies! Hope you've liked it so far!**

**Bye for now, loves! 3**


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